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Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-27) and Town of Cheektowaga Supervisor Mary Holtz announced the town has been awarded a $20,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice. The federal funding was provided through the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Secure our Schools Program.
“This funding allows the Cheektowaga Police Department and Cheektowaga school districts to continue and enhance the great working partnership that meets the priority of keeping our children and schools safe,” said Congressman Higgins.
Cheektowaga Town Supervisor Mary F. Holtz stated, “This COPS grant will expand upon the ability of the schools to monitor their premises and call upon the Cheektowaga Police for assistance when necessary. Our ultimate goal is the safety of the students and school personnel.”
The grant will be used to enhance technology through the purchase of DVRs and additional cameras for the Town of Cheektowaga’s four school districts and BOCES facility to enhance and extend their campus security system. The Police Department Public Safety dispatchers have access to monitor and advise responding officers of a situation. The funding will also be used for training for police officer response to critical incidents in schools.
“We are very pleased to receive this grant which allows us to continue our partnership with the schools and provide the children safety,” said Cheektowaga Police Chief Christine Ziemba. “This allows us to enhance the practices in place and continues to increase our efficiencies and effectiveness on dealing with incidents on school grounds.”
The community policing program concentrates on preventing crime, eliminating the atmosphere of fear it creates, earning the trust of the community and enabling law enforcement to better understand and address both the needs of the community and the factors that contribute to crime. Save Our Schools funding can be used for a number of measures including school security assessments, security training of personnel and students and other coordinated efforts between school districts and law enforcement agencies.
Congress appropriated $16 million for the COPS Secure Our Schools Program in 2009. Since 1994, the COPS Office has invested more than $12 billion to add approximately 117,000 community policing officers to the nation's streets, enhance crime fighting technology, support crime prevention initiatives, and provide training and technical assistance to help advance community policing. Over the last 15 years the Town of Cheektowaga has received nearly $800,000 in COPS funding.
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